One allomomma's adventures in parenting

Trimming the tree

(So I logged in to finally edit my post about Christmas and I noticed that I had a draft awaiting my attention… from almost a month ago. :S Oops. Sorry for the excessive delay. On the plus side, this means that you’ll have two posts to read this week! Hoping that you’re all staying warm in this cold weather snap.)

Ho ho ho! It’s that time of year again folks, and for this momma, it’s one of the most wonderful, magical times of the year. I absolutely love Christmas and all of the merriment that comes with it. Getting a real tree is one of the traditions I enjoy, and although it’s been years since I went to cut down a fresh tree, picking out one that someone else has cut is much easier and still gives the house that wonderful fresh-tree smell. 🙂

We went as a family to pick out a tree (as per usual), and Bean and Hubby were most patient as I ix-nayed one suggestion after another. The tree I initially thought would be best looked to be about 10 feet, and since our ceilings are 10′, I had to reluctantly leave that one behind. We did, however, agree on a beautiful tree (which *might* have been the same tree that Hubby first picked out… it’s a good thing he’s patient with me. 😉 ).

Getting the tree up into the stand wasn’t much of an issue, but apparently I had decorating issues galore this year. The first night we had the tree, we had to wait for the branches to drop, so I told the girls we weren’t allowed to decorate it until the following night. Bean snuck 2 ornaments onto the tree anyways, haha.

Once the branches had dropped, and we could see how big and beautiful our tree was, it was time to put on the lights. I remembered to start at the top this year (since starting at the bottom always ends up with me having to redo everything to fix the spacing). I put up the first string of lights easily enough. It wasn’t until I went to attach the 2nd string that I noticed I had the wrong end for connecting… which meant taking off and redoing the entire first string of lights. Slight delay, but not a big deal. The 2nd string went up easily enough, but when I went to attach the 3rd string they wouldn’t go together. One string has a polarized plug and the other string doesn’t… sigh. I forgot that they were supposed to go in a certain order. So I had to undo the entire 2nd string of lights and then redo it afterwards. Poor Bean was dancing around SO eager to decorate and here I was making mistake after mistake and delaying the whole thing.

We decided to let Bean stay up late to help decorate the tree, but only if she got all ready for bed first. I don’t think she’s ever gotten into her PJs that fast before (with the possible exception of Christmas Eve last year… that would definitely be a contender for quickest bedtime ever!). After El was in bed, Bean and I decorated the tree. Or at least we started to decorate the tree; I didn’t want her up until the wee hours of the morning.

Every day for an entire week Bean would want to decorate the tree again. So every day a few more ornaments went up. I thought we were done… but then when I went to get the Christmas placemats out of one of the Christmas bins, I found another box of decorations. Oh?! I guess we’ll have more fun tomorrow then. 🙂

I’m happy to report that although El seems to scale everything in sight (stairs, couches, chairs, tables…) she has been pretty good with the tree. I warned her the night we brought it home that Christmas trees are for looking at, not for climbing. I also had to explain that the decorations were for looking at. (For a kid who loves balls (throwing & chasing them), she’s doing a pretty good job of leaving the Christmas balls ON the tree. Although she does like to “tickle” them, haha.

I love that I come home to the smell of Christmas tree. I love the lights, especially when it’s still dark outside. (El has been getting up at 4:30 lately…) I love how warm and cozy it makes me feel to look at our decorated tree and hug my kids or my husband or just enjoy a rare 30 seconds of me-time. (ha! Who am I kidding! Those moments when I stare happily at the tree usually involve both kids pulling on my legs, trying to get my attention about something.) But you know what? I can still breathe in the sight of the tree before giving them a big bear hug and my attention. And sometimes, that 30 seconds of tree-love is all I need.